Free Republic

Iran is in its worst economic situation in 42 years, and the threat of a widespread uprising that may lead to the regime’s overthrow has become more serious than ever. When Khomeini was alive, no authority dared to dispute his orders and decisions, and everyone had to obey him. In today’s Iran, Khamenei still has the final say on all internal and international matters. But unlike Khomeini, he has not been able to keep all political factions in Iran at bay. Although Khamenei has not wasted a moment in suppressing its opponents, even those very close to him and his...

Iran has recently faced the largest wave of popular protest since the Green Movement of 2009, mainly focused on economic stagnation but also bleeding into more political issues of foreign policy, personal freedoms, and human rights. The rising wave of discontent is pushing the government to make some concessions. Just yesterday, the regime's security council approved the release of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the 2009 protest movement, from house arrest after seven years. This move illustrates the regime's unease with the rising pressure from the streets, but also shows that it has some tools...

“I think you’re beginning to see the initial kernel of a revolution forming right now. If this thing is sustained over a period of time and the government tries to clamp down, but the numbers of protesters grow, I think at that point you’ve got a revolution on your hands,” Kaveh Sharooz, a Toronto lawyer, human rights activist and former senior policy adviser to Global Affairs Canada, told me over the weekend. Sharooz served as prosecutor in the “Iran Tribunal,” an ad hoc initiative that assembled jurists and international law specialists at the Hague five years ago to assemble a...

Iran's Presidential election on June 12, 2009 was as fateful as it was controversial. In no uncertain terms, the official results showed incumbent candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning in a landslide, but a great many people - prominent among them his opponents in the election, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi - alleged fraud on this result, with Moussavi even insisting on the accusation to the point of declaring victory himself. This led to a massive breakout of protests and civil unrest in Iran and the birth of a popular action - widely regarded as the political offspring of Moussavi and...

Opposition websites said security services rounded up protesters in several locations in the capital and were helped by police in plain clothes. Another 40 people were said to have been detained in the city of Isfahan. Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders - Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The two men had been placed under house arrest several weeks ago as authorities cracked down on protests staged in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Their families say that on Monday they were taken to prison, although the government denies...